Computer networks are widely used for communication between computing devices. Such networks exist in large corporations or academic environments, as well as increasingly, in home and small office environments.
In some scenarios, operations that involve computers communicating over a network fail. There can be any of a number of reasons that such an operation may fail, making it difficult to identify the reason in any particular scenario. For example, failure can be the result of a defect within any of the computers that are attempting to communicate or a defect in a network component interconnecting those computers. Though, the failure could alternatively be the result of mis-configuration of any of the computers or network components involved in the operation.
To aid in detecting the cause of a failure, tools have been developed to analyze portions of a network. One such tool is called “trace route.” “Trace route” is provided by many operating systems, and can indicate the hops between two networked computing devices. Another such tool commonly available is called “ping,” which can be used to determine whether a networked computing device is reachable from another computing device.
Though these tools are available, they may not be adequate in some scenarios. The likelihood that the tools will be unsuitable for detecting problems on a home network may be particularly high. A home network may be managed by an individual who lacks the sophistication to use the tools or interpret output of the tools.